Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to advise the House that, on 27 July 2022, local legend John Kennedy, better known as JK, retired from the LifeFlight aircrew as an officer. John has been a pretty handy lifesaver and a great ski paddler. He is the husband of Kerry and the father of Kate, and for more than 20 years he has voluntarily jumped out of perfectly good helicopters to rescue people across our local region.

I know John well. We've been friends for a long time. I really want to congratulate him on his retirement. It is an incredibly difficult job—I know we have some members in the House who have done this themselves and have been active participants in a lot of these types of areas. John started in December 2001, as a volunteer, and moved into a full-time role in at 2005.

Being an emergency responder is an incredibly difficult task, and I know John has struggled on occasions with some of the things they have had to do to save people, to rescue them, to come in their hour of need. He was an absolute advocate for providing the critical-care doctor for the LifeFlight service, which in government the coalition committed to. I'd like to hope that the Labor Party maintains that commitment, because it is needed. It is quite simply needed.

Every single day that John has been out there helping people, he's done it because it's something he loves to do. He worked through the 2013 flood. He's done everything—from fires to car accidents to heart attacks—and I congratulate John on his retirement. He has earned it.